Railway-car.



J. B. STRAUSS.

RAILWAY CAR; APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18. 1910.

mgma

3 SHEETS-SHEET Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

Z%' gases; WQM Jffwzz.

J. B. STRAUSS.

RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 18, 1910.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915. r

3 SHEETS-SHEEI 2.

J. B. STRAUSS. RAILWAY CAR.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 13, 1910.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

avwcufoz wi/tme-ooeo I W Y QHo mwq COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH C0-- WASHINUTON, D C.

State of Illinois,

Further objects ent ies.

aosnrn -12. srnauss; or CHICAGO, rumors.

RAILWAY-CAR.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JosErH B. STRAUSS, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

The main obiects of this invention are to provide an improved construction for sleeping cars whereby the upper berths may be eliminated without materially reducing the passenger carrying capacity of the car; to provide an improved arrangement whereby eachi'ndividual passenger may have an individual convertible sleeping compartment and day section, and thereby provideabsolute privacy for each passenger, and admit of providing each passenger with individual toilet facilities, baggage and coat room space; and to provide an improved construction for sleeping cars whereby each berth may be made up independently of any other and without requiring the occupant to leave the section; and to provide an improved arrangement of the passenger carrying space within the car soas to utilize the horizontal area of the car to maximum advantage and at the same time provide a structural arrangement capable of giving great longitudinal stiffness and strengthto the car body while also making it possible to have the center of gravity of the car lower than is possible with usual constructions.

of this invention are to rovide an improved arrangement of the berths and passenger compartments so that the space ordinarily given up to provide a central passage way as""a berth space at night and as alocker space for bedding during the'day; to provide improved means whereby each passenger isenabled to regulate the lighting, heating and ventilation of his individual compartment to'suit himself without affecting or causing discomfort to other passengers of the car; toprovidean improved arrangement whereby adjoining compartments may be thrown into one for accommodating a number of passengers who may be members of the sameparty, all without preventing each passenger from suiting his own desires as regards privacy, heating, lighting, and ventilation, and without afiecting' other pas- 5 sengers in the car;

" These objects are accomplished by the de- Specification of Letters Patent.

or aisle may be utilized vice shown, somewhat diagrammatically, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

' Figure 1 is a fragmentary sectional plan of a railway passenger car embodying this invention taken on the broken line 1 l of Fig.2. 'Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the same taken on the broken line 22 of Fig. 1. 3 is a transverse section of the same taken on the section line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal section of a railway car embodying my invention, on a very much reduced scale as compared with the otherviews and some details not being shown. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view similar to Fig. 3, with parts broken away, and showing the disposition of the parts when the bedding of the berth is stowed away and the seat is being used instead of the berth. Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing the relative position of the various parts of the berth and compartment.

In the construction shown, the car is provided with a main floor 1, and has a central passage way 2 extending throughout the greater part of the length of the car. The floor 3 of the passage way 2 is raised above the floor 1 of the car at a sufficient level to allow the berths 4 when made up ready for use to extend under the floor 3;

The berths are arranged transversely to the length of the car and are convertible into seats for day use, being provided with removable sections 5 so'that they may serve either as a single or double seat, as illustrated. Then the section '5 is in place as shown in Fig. 5 a double seat is provided, and when the section 5 is removed a'single seat is provided. When the berth is not in use the mattress, pillows, sheets and blankets are stowed away in the space beneath the floor as shown in this figure. Each berth com rises a'stationary section 6, located belowthe floor 3, and the sections Land 5 which are convertible into seats, as already Stated.

I Longitudinal bulkheads 7 extend throughout the length of the raised floor 3'between it and the mainfloor land these, together withthe supporting frame structure, not illustrated in the drawings, form a longitudinal girder extending betweenthe front and rear bolsters orsills of the car, and serving to give'the car great longitudinal stiffness and strength. Suitable openings'in the bulkheads? are provided where the Patented Aug. 1'7, 1915.

Application filed February is, 1910. semu No. 544,635.

berths extend through them, and these open: h

V able, as indicated mg sections on the same 65. b

ings are provided with suitable doors 7 as shown in Fig. 5, so that they may be closed when the berth is converted into a seat.

Partitions, partlystationary and partly movable, are arranged so as to subdivide the car into compartments, one for each seat or berth. These partitions consist of trans verse partitions 8 extending through the bulkheads 7 from side to side of the car. Adjacent to the seats, the partitions 8 are of the same height as the seats. Above the partitions 8, and forming a removable extension thereof, are suitable curtains 9 which may be drawn to cut off communication between succeeding compartments on the same side of the car, or which may be thrown open at will.

At each side of the aisle floor 3, there is a series of partition sections 10, which may or may not be removable and there are openings 11 between the sections 10 to provide door ways for entering the individual compartments 12. Stairs 13 serve to permit a passenger to descend from the level of the floor 3 to that of the floor l in the compartment, and these are preferably foldin Fig. 3, so as to occupy a minimum amount of floor space after the passenger has entered the compartment. Curtains 14 close the door ways 11 and foldable partition sections 15 which may be made to roll up similarly to curtain shades serve to connect the top of the sect-ions 10 with the car roof. Below the floor 3 there is, between each pair of partitions 8, a partition 16 extending transversely between the longitudinal bulkheads 7 to separate the berth spaces which are at opposite sides of the car. These partitions 16 preferably extend at an angle as indicated in Fig. 1, and the spaces under the floor are wider adja cent to the openings in the bulkheads 7 than at their inner ends, and the individual passenger spaces are all of equal form and dimensions.

When the berths are made .up, they extend transversely to the length of the car, as illustrated, at the right of Fig. l, and when'the seats are made up for day use the bedding and other parts of the berth. which do not form part of the day seats are within the spaces under the floor 8.

The ends of the car are preferably extended somewhat beyond the floor 3 to provide smoking rooms, toilet rooms, porters quarters, lobbies or like spaces, which it is desirable to have accessible to all passengers and independent of the individual sections. These sections are preferably divided from the remainder of the car by sliding doors. Stairways connect the ends of the floor 3 with the main floor 1 at the ends of the car.

In order to permit a plurality of adjoinside of the car to e thrown into one for the accommodation the present length, with of a party of passengers, the partitions 8 are provided with removable sections or doors 18 adjacent to the removable sections 5 of the seats. Each section may be provided with an individual wash basin 19, package rack 20, window 21, ventilator 22, electric lights 23, etc., and if desired may also have individual means, not shown, for regulating the supply of heat, thus making it possibleto meet the desires of any individual passenger without thereby causing discomfort to any of the others.

The raised central bulkhead besides providing added berth space also provides a convenient place for the accommodation of steam, water and gas pipes, electric wiring and the like.

Although but one specific embodiment of this invention is herein shown and described, it will be understood that numerous details of the construction shown may be altered or omitted, within the scope of the following claims, without departing from the spirit of this invention.

It will be noted that by means of this construction the length of each compartment longitudinally of the car is shorter than the length of the berth associated therewith, and hence a large number of compartments can be arranged in a car of berths still of the proper length, and the car can thus be provided with a large number of separate compartments, each having a lower berth therein. The length of the compartment longitudinally of the car, that is, along the corridor, is determined by the point on the corridor wall where it intersects a circle described about the side of the berth with a center at the outer end of said side, that is, at the outer corner of the compartment. It will further be noted that the corridor wall of the compartment and the wall which intersects the corridor wall farthest from the berth form partial chords of said circle. Referring now to Fig. 6, I have illustrated this construction diagrammatically. The circle 25 is described about the side 26 of the berth, which extends from the outer wall 27 of one compartment to the inner wall 28 of the opposite compartment, the center of the circle being at the corner 29. The corridor wall 30 of the compartment extends perpendicularly from the side 26 of the berth to a point where it intersects the circle 25. It will be noted that the corridor wall 30 of any given compartment and the wall 31 farthest from the berth are each a above the floors of 130 said compartments, and means'located above the floor of the car providing access-from said compartments up to and down from said elevated passage way, said means arranged to be moved into and out of operative os1t1on.

2. car provided with a central corridor and comprising a series of compartments on each s1de of said corridor, foldable stairs leading from the floor of the corridor down to the floor of each compartment, the lower steps of said stairs located above the floor of the car and adapted to be moved toward the corridor when the stairs are folded.

3. A car having a central corridor and comprising a series of compartments on opposite sides of the corridor, each compartment containing a sleeping berth having one end connected to the outer wall of the car and the other end extending under the floor of the corridor, a removable seat supported upon the end of the berth attached to the outer wall of the car and facing toward the end of the car, the partitions between the compartments acting to support the backs of said seats.

4. A car having a central corridor and to the outer wall of the car and facing toand the other end extending under the floor of the corridor, a removable seat supported upon the end of the berth attached to the V outer wall of thecar and facing toward the end of the car, the partitions between the compartments acting to support the backs of said seats, a wall extending from the corridor floor to the car floor and having an opening through which the berth projects, a closable door controlling said opening and-arranged so that the bed clothing for-the berth can be moved into the space under the corridor floor and closed off from the main portion of the compartment by said door when the seat is being used.

Signed at ruary, 1910.

Chicago, this 1st day of Feb- JOSEPH B. STRAUSS.

Witnesses A. F. BRUss, LAMBERT KASPERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

